Colin Murray: Decision makers will never be on the winning side

Colin Murray column: I am sure there are occupations less rewarding than being a referee, but I’m having problems thinking of any.

Jonjo Shelvey has apologised to fans for getting sent off (Picture: EPA)

I suppose, if push came to dive, I would rather have been Mark Halsey at Anfield than, let me think, Andrew Mitchell ’s press officer, or Pete Burns ’ make-up artist, but I’d have to think twice.

Halsey made three key decisions in the Liverpool-Manchester United game, and still the world and its physio are arguing whether he got them right or wrong.

Watching live, I was on my feet at Jonjo Shelvey’s sending-off. ‘You are a joke ref! You must have got your badge in a lucky bag!’

Then came the replay, and I retracted slightly from my position. In fact, I thought he’d got it mostly right, although Jonny Evans could have been booked as well.

It is impossible to go to ground making a tackle while keeping one foot planted on the ground, unless you are Inspector Gadget. So if Halsey had booked both players and left it at that I would have seen his logic. But I also see why he made the decision he did.

Then came Liverpool’s penalty claim. My tea was knocked to the floor as I proclaimed: ‘Stonewall pen!’ Then came the replay and I could see how a spot-kick would have been harsh. Some will agree, some will not. That is my point.

As I refilled my cup I again saw what I believed to be a clear penalty as Antonio Valencia crumbled inside the box, only to have my opinion change after a replay.

So, in my opinion, Mark Halsey got one and three quarters out of three decisions right.

Yes, sometimes referees make blatantly wrong calls, but it seems to me Sunday was about interpretation, so to wish harm on this man – as a very few did in the fallout – is simply sub-human.

I once ‘ran the line’ at a televised charity game. In 90 minutes I made two decisions which the commentator scornfully questioned, only for replays to prove I was right.

Dermot Gallagher refereed brilliantly and, at the end of the game, stood on the pitch with his two assistants either side of him. When he was satisfied our services were no longer needed, he led us off the field to complete and utter silence from a 10,000-strong crowd.

I learnt that night being ignored is the referee’s standing ovation. Not clapped for doing a good job, but simply not berated and verbally abused for doing a bad one, or in Halsey’s case, an impossible one.

So, while I will no doubt find myself knocking over beverages and referencing Specsavers in the not-so-distant future, I also have a huge respect for the fact referees pull on the black jersey in the first place.

I mean, the only thing I can think of in football close to the job of a referee is having to play devil’s advocate on a weekly Premier League football highlights show, and who would be crazy enough to do that?